


Sea Spray and Sunlight

by wiseturtle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, First Meetings, M/M, Prince Keith (Voltron), Sea Spirit Lance, keith has a lot of feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-20 21:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16563791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiseturtle/pseuds/wiseturtle
Summary: Keith visits this cove when he wants to be hidden from the rest of the world. Nobody else visits this place, too dangerous to get to by anyone not as sure-footed as Keith. It’s untouched by another person.Or so he thought.





	Sea Spray and Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually supposed to be the opening scene of a longer work, but I lost interest in the idea. I really liked this, though, and I felt like it would be a waste to let it sit unread on my computer. I hope you guys like it!

On evenings like this, Keith never stays in the castle. The sky is purpling in dusk, still brilliantly red where the sun sinks below the horizon. The clouds are stained gold, drifting through the sky on their way to a distant place. The air is warm; it’s midsummer.

Shiro has learned to let him go. It takes more energy than it’s worth to hunt down the wayward prince. They can never find him, anyway, until he wants to be found.

So Keith is alone for the first time in a long time. He has no guards trailing behind him and no tutors trying to lecture him on topics he’s already learned. He is free to be himself, the wild, reckless man he has to hide away beneath layers of satin and silk.

He doesn’t have a destination in mind, when he sets out on these adventures. Sometimes he goes down to the city and walks among the people, disguised in common clothes. Sometimes, he wanders through the rolling hills and plains just outside of the city; others, he would ride through the dense forest to the north.

Today, though, he goes to none of those places. Today, he goes south to the sheer cliffs and hidden beaches of the shore.

The rocks are slick with sea spray as he carefully picks his way down the steep incline that leads to a tiny cove, hidden from the open sea by huge, jutting rocks. The sand is fine beneath his feet, glittering gold in the dying light. The sea washes on to the shore, gentle and clear.

Keith visits this cove when he wants to be hidden from the rest of the world. Nobody else visits this place, too dangerous to get to by anyone not as sure-footed as Keith. It’s untouched by another person.

Or so he thought.

It is as he is straightening from taking off his boots that he sees the other man. He is standing calf-deep in the ocean, pant legs rolled up to prevent them from getting wet. His shirt is untucked, over-sized but still showing off the slimness of his waist and the broadness of his shoulders. The setting sun backlights him, making strands of gold glitter in his dark hair and his chestnut skin glow.

He seems to notice Keith, too, because he turns to look over his shoulder, and Keith loses his breath.

His eyes are the most brilliant blue Keith has ever seen. They are the color of the ocean, deep and dark and rolling. They scrunch at the edges, too, as he gives Keith a smile that could rival the sun.

“Hello!” He says cheerfully, voice like the roll of a wave on to sun-warmed sand. “I didn’t realize you would be here today.”

Keith is dumbstruck, mouth gaping like a dying fish. He feels warm all over, and his brain feels fried. He doesn’t know what to say to this stranger. This brilliantly beautiful stranger who is looking at him with expectant eyes.

“Who are you?” He asks, sharper than he means to. The man’s smile falters, and Keith curses himself for making that smile dim. “Um,” He tries, “I mean, I’ve never seen anyone else here before.”

The man’s smile brightens again, and Keith lets out a soft breath of relief. “Oh!” The man says. “The name’s Lance.”

Lance turns towards Keith fully and steps out of the water, making his way over to the prince. He pauses just in front of Keith, setting his hands on his hips. He lifts an eyebrow, and Keith realizes that he is waiting for him to introduce himself back.

“I’m Keith,” He replies. He casts an eye back at the path he used to get down to the cove. “How’d you get down here? It’s pretty dangerous.”

“But not too dangerous for you?” Lance teases, leaning closer into Keith’s space. He’s close enough that Keith can feel his breath fan over his face. 

Keith leans back, uncomfortable with how close this handsome stranger has gotten. His cheeks feel hot. “No?” It sounds more like a question than a statement.

Lance laughs a bit, before backing away. “Well,” He says, “If you can do it, who says someone else can’t?”

Keith doesn’t say anything to that and just shrugs. Lance grins smugly before turning and heading back to the ocean. He resumes his place calf-deep in the water, eyes closed and head tilted to the sky.

Keith stands awkwardly by the cliffs that ring the small beach. If he was alone, he would sit down in the sand and feel the fine texture under his hands as he watched the water. But that feels like a waste with this man looking so natural against the backdrop of the cove.

Instead of that, he goes out to stand beside the mysterious stranger. Keith doesn’t know what to say, or if he should say anything, but he’s curious about Lance. It is a strange feeling. Keith isn’t good with people. He would choose solitude over the company of other people any day. Yet with Lance, he wants to talk to him, wants to ask questions.

He hesitates a moment before he asks, “How come I’ve never seen you here before?”

Lance cracks open an eye to peer at him. His smile is small now, content. “I figure you come here for the same reason I do, so I let you have your alone time.”

“Oh.” Keith hadn’t thought about that. “I’m sorry for interrupting yours.”

Lance snorts, an objectively unattractive sound that is somehow anything but. “You don’t need to worry about it. We were bound to run into each other eventually.” Lance pauses, bringing his head back down and kicking a foot gently in the water. He sounds almost sheepish as he says, “Besides, I don’t really mind you being here.”

Keith starts to wonder if there is a volcano inside him that erupts every time Lance does or says anything because a warm feeling bubbles up in his chest and makes him giddy.

Keith doesn’t respond, too shocked to find his voice, and Lance seems to take that as a bad sign. He fidgets, curling his fingers into the hem of his shirt. “Is that weird?” His voice is soft, hesitant.

“No!” Keith bursts out. His voice is loud and it bounces alarmingly off of the stone walls of the cove. Keith flinches as Lance turns to him with wide eyes. “Um. No, it’s not weird.” Keith’s voice gets softer as he goes on. “I kinda get it too.”

Lance looks at him for a long moment, deep blue eyes glittering with something Keith can’t possibly hope to name, and then he is laughing. It’s gentle and warming, and Keith doesn’t bristle like he would if it had been anyone else.

“You’re pretty awkward, aren’t you?”

Keith does tense at that. Lance is still looking at him, and a wide, glowing smile adorns his face. Keith crosses his arms, face falling into what Shiro called his ‘pouty face.’ His brows furrowed and his lips turn down. Lance giggles at him again.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way,” Lance assures. “Just an observation. It’s kinda cute, actually.”

Keith’s scowl deepens, and his ears go hot. At this point, Lance must think he is just permanently red. He grumbles something along the lines of, “Don’t tease me,” and enjoys the laugh it draws from Lance.

They fall back into silence. It’s comfortable, with the soft sound of waves on the shore and seabirds calling. Keith really does get it. Being with Lance just feels natural. There’s no pressure to fill the air with empty pleasantries, and what conversation does arise is natural. It’s relaxing, and Keith doesn’t mind that his pursued solitude is disrupted by the stranger.

It’s a new feeling, but it isn’t a bad one.

When the sun is little more than a thin line of light, Lance turns to him. “It’s getting late,” he says, voice soft, as if he doesn’t want to disrupt the quiet atmosphere of the cove. “If you wait much longer, you won’t be able to see your way back up the cliff. It’s too dangerous, even for you.”

Keith smiles at the concern and teasing tone of the last sentence. Then frowns when he realizes that Lance had phrased it as if he wasn’t going to follow. “What about you?” he asks. “Aren’t you coming up, too?”

Lance shakes his head and pops the ‘p’ when he declares, “Nope!”

Keith’s brows draw together. “Didn’t you just say that it would be too dangerous to try and climb the cliff in the dark?”

“Well, yeah,” Lance concedes. He gives Keith a smile, wide and glowing. “But you’re assuming I’m going to climb the cliff.”

“What?” Keith breathes, completely baffled.

Lance lets out a big laugh, eyes shining with mischief. “Go on, Mullet,” he says, shooing Keith out of the water and towards the cliff. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

“Mullet?” Keith echoes, voice dripping with incredulity. Lance lays his hands on Keith’s shoulder blades and gives him a gentle shove.

“Yup. That’s you.” Lance’s voice is colored with laughter. “Now. Up you go!”

Keith shakes his head at Lance’s ridiculousness, but he can’t help but smile. He glances over his shoulder as he lays his hands on the cold stone of the steep slope. Lance is not too far behind him, smiling warmly.

“Bye, Lance,” Keith says, hefting himself up the first little bit.

“See you later, Keith,” Lance responds, and Keith’s chest warms at the idea of ‘later.’

When Keith reaches the point of the cluster of rocks that blocks the cove from view, he casts his gaze back to sands of the beach, and Lance is nowhere to be seen.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks very much for reading! Let me know what you think.


End file.
